REST FRAMEWORK WEB DEVELOPMENT

A RESTful API is an application program interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data.

A RESTful API -- also referred to as a RESTful web service or REST API -- is based on representational state transfer (REST) technology, an architectural style and approach to communications often used in web services development.

REST technology is generally preferred to the more robust Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) technology because REST leverages less bandwidth, making it more suitable for internet usage. An API for a website is code that allows two software programs to communicate with each another . The API spells out the proper way for a developer to write a program requesting services from an operating system or other application.

This video by Kevin Babcock
details RESTful API design and
related HTTP concepts.

The REST used by browsers can be thought of as the language of the internet. With cloud use on the rise, APIs are emerging to expose web services. REST is a logical choice for building APIs that allow users to connect and interact with cloud services. RESTful APIs are used by such sites as Amazon, Google, LinkedIn and Twitter.

How RESTful APIs work

A RESTful API breaks down a transaction to create a series of small modules. Each module addresses a particular underlying part of the transaction. This modularity provides developers with a lot of flexibility, but it can be challenging for developers to design from scratch. Currently, the models provided by Amazon S3, Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) and OpenStack Swift are the most popular.

A RESTful API explicitly takes advantage of HTTP methodologies defined by the RFC 2616 protocol. They use GET to retrieve a resource; PUT to change the state of or update a resource, which can be an object, file or block; POST to create that resource ; and DELETE to remove it.

With REST, networked components are a resource you request access to -- a black box whose implementation details are unclear. The presumption is that all calls are stateless; nothing can be retained by the RESTful service between executions.

Because the calls are stateless, REST is useful in cloud applications. Stateless components can be freely redeployed if something fails, and they can scale to accommodate load changes. This is because any request can be directed to any instance of a component; there can be nothing saved that has to be remembered by the next transaction. That makes REST preferred for web use, but the RESTful model is also helpful in cloud services because binding to a service through an API is a matter of controlling how the URL is decoded. Cloud computing and microservices are almost certain to make RESTful API design the rule in the future.

RESTful API Design and Architecture Constraints

RESTful API design was defined by Dr. Roy Fielding in his 2000 doctorate dissertation. In order to be a true RESTful API, a web service must adhere to the following six REST architectural constraints:

• Use of a uniform interface (UI). Resources should be uniquely identifiable through a single URL, and only by using the underlying methods of the network protocol, such as DELETE, PUT and GET with HTTP, should it be possible to manipulate a resource.
• Client-server based. There should be a clear delineation between the client and server. UI and request-gathering concerns are the client’s domain. Data access, workload management and security are the server’s domain. This loose coupling of the client and server enables each to be developed and enhanced independent of the other.
• Stateless operations. All client-server operations should be stateless, and any state management that is required should take place on the client, not the server.
• RESTful resource caching. All resources should allow caching unless explicitly indicated that caching is not possible.
• Layered system. REST allows for an architecture composed of multiple layers of servers.
• Code on demand. Most of the time a server will send back static representations of resources in the form of XML or JSON. However, when necessary, servers can send executable code to the client.

REST vs. SOAP

REST and SOAP offer different methods to invoke a web service. REST is an architectural style, while SOAP defines a standard communication protocol specification for XML-based message exchange. REST applications can use SOAP.

RESTful web services are stateless. A REST-based implementation is simple compared to SOAP, but users must understand the context and content being passed along, as there’s no standard set of rules to describe the REST web services interface. REST services are useful for restricted profile devices, such as mobile, and are easy to integrate with existing websites.

SOAP requires less plumbing code than REST services design. The Web Services Description Language describes a common set of rules to define the messages, bindings, operations and location of the service. SOAP web services are useful for asynchronous processing and invocation.

History of RESTful APIs

Prior to REST, developers used Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to integrate APIs. To make a call, developers handwrote an XML document with a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) call in the body. They then specified the endpoint and POST their SOAP envelope to the endpoint.

Margaret Rouse asks:
What will future RESTful API models look like and how will they differ from current designs?
Join the Discussion

In 2000, Roy Fielding and a group of developers decided to create a standard so that any server could talk to any other server. He defined REST and the architectural constraints explained above in his 2000 PhD dissertation at UC Irvine. These universal rules make it easier for developers to integrate software.

Salesforce was the first company to sell an API as part of their “Internet as a Service” package in 2000. However, few developers were actually able to use the complicated XML API. EBay built a REST API, which expanded its market to any site that could access its API. This caught the attention of another ecommerce giant, and Amazon announced its API in 2002.

Flickr launched its own RESTful API in August 2004, enabling bloggers to easily embed images on their sites and social media feeds. Facebook and Twitter both released their APIs in 2006, buckling under the pressure of developers who scraped the sites and created “Frankenstein” APIs. When Amazon Web Services (AWS) helped launch the cloud in 2006, developers were able to access data space in minutes using AWS’s REST API, and the request for public APIs quickly escalated.

Since then, developers have embraced RESTful APIs, using them to add functionality to their websites and applications. Today, REST APIs are considered the “backbone of the Internet.”